A 15-year-old Muslim girl yesterday lost her high court battle for the right to wear strict Islamic dress to school.
Shabina Begum has not attended Denbigh high school in Luton since September 2002 when she was sent home for turning up in a jilbab – the full-length gown worn by many Muslim women that covers all of the body except the face and hands.
Shabina’s claim that she had been “constructively excluded” from her school was dismissed by Mr Justice Bennett. He said the school’s refusal to let her wear the jilbab did not breach her right to education and freedom of religion as laid down in the European convention on human rights.